Nowadays, we all know that more women are now dying of heart attacks and other heart-related diseases compared to men. The truth is, this is because of the failure to recognize its symptoms. We can say that there are many books nowadays that give us knowledge about heart diseases. However, what we don’t know is the fact that these books are actually more applicable for men than women.
In most cardiology textbooks, most of their spaces are occupied by the detailed descriptions of its symptoms that usually occur to those who have heart diseases. The truth is, these ‘common symptoms’ were none other than the symptoms that are usually experienced by men who have heart diseases. These common symptoms became the ‘standard’ so needless to say, other symptoms which occur along with heart disease are mostly called atypical or uncommon. However, the sad truth is, these uncommon or atypical symptoms are the common and typical symptoms that are experienced by women who have heart disease.
If you’re a woman and if you think that you’re experiencing symptoms that you think are related with your heart disease, you must consult your doctor immediately. Listed below are the symptoms that women usually experience but medical books ignore most of the time:
- Angina-Related Pains – As what medical books says, an angina is a kind of pressure-like chest pain which is accompanied by pains in jaw and shoulder areas. This kind of pain, however, usually applies only to men. However, in case of women, angina-related pains are usually experienced by feeling a hot sensation in jaw, shoulders, arms and back areas while having no chest pains at all.
- Different Kind of Heart Attacks – In women, heart attacks are way different compared to what most men with the heart disease actually experience. In women’s case, they usually experience indigestion, nausea, sudden fatigues, shortness of breath and vomiting. And just like what happens in their angina, women usually don’t experience any chest pain at all.
- Women usually tend to minimize or ignore cardiac symptoms – Due to the fact that they don’t want to alarm anyone about their heart condition or just being fed-up of being told by their doctors that they’re just being too anxious, women usually do this. And because of this matter, the diagnosis to a woman’s heart conditions is often late, if not totally ignored.